Lok Sabha elections: Smriti Irani, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury headed for big losses as vote count underway
New Delhi: As the counting of votes is underway, the latest trends suggest that Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, and the Leader of Opposition of the outgoing Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, are among those high-profile candidates heading for a big loss.
As per the latest trend issued by the Election Commission of India, Union Minister Smriti Irani is trailing on the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, as Congress' Kishori Lal Sharma is leading by a margin of 1,25,159 votes.
KL Sharma, the longtime associate of the Gandhi family, was fighting against Irani with the responsibility of winning back Congress' once-held bastion.
LoP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is another high-profile candidate facing tight competition from Trinamool Congress candidate and cricketer Yusuf Pathan in the Baharampur seat. Pathan is leading in the seat by a margin of 55,047 votes.
Union Minister Arjun Munda is heading for a big loss as the latest numbers show Congress' Kali Charan Munda leading on the Khunti seat in Jharkhand by a margin of 1,21,644 votes.
Also, as per the latest numbers, sitting MP and brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, DK Suresh is trailing as the BJP's CM Manjunath leads by a margin of 2,68,094 votes in the Bengaluru Rural constituency.
In a major setback to the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction), Sunetra Pawar is trailing on the Baramati seat in Maharashtra as sitting MP Supriya Sule of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leads with a margin of 29,335 votes. The Baramati seat witnessed a 'family fight' between Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra and his cousin Supriya.
Incumbent MP Maneka Gandhi is also heading for a big loss against the Samajwadi Party's Rambhul Nishad in the Sultanpur seat in Uttar Pradesh. Nishad is leading by a margin of 34,444 votes.
Union Minister Kailash Choudhary, who is contesting from Rajasthan's Barmer Lok Sabha seat, is trailing by over 4 lakh votes. Choudhury is pushed to the third position as Congress' Ummeda Ram Beniwal leads by over 1 lakh votes. Independent candidate Ravindra Singh Bhati is in the second position with over 5 lakh votes.
Congress veteran Kamal Nath's son and sitting MP Nakul Nath is another key candidate heading for a defeat against BJP's Bunty Vivek Sahu. Bunty Sahu is leading in the seat by a margin of over 1 lakh votes.
Also, in Madhya Pradesh, the former CM and senior Congress leader is trailing in the Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 1 lakh votes, while the BJP's Rodmal Nagar is heading for a big win.
Congress defector Anil Antony, who is contesting as an NDA candidate in Kerala's Pathanamthitta, which was one of the most anticipated seats of the BJP, is trailing in the third position, where Congress leader and sitting MP Anto Antony is leading by a margin of 63,543 votes.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and former state finance minister TM Thomas Issac is in the second position in the seat with over 2 lakh votes.
Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai is also trailing by a margin of 52,894 as ruling DMK's Ganapathy Rajkumar P leads in the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP's Ajay Kumar is trailing in the Kheri Lok Sabha seat, with the Samajwadi Party's Utkarsh Verma 'Madhur' leading by a margin of 33,361 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA crossed the majority mark in early leads and the INDIA bloc above 200, defying all exit poll predictions. As per the Election Commission data, the NDA alliance is leading by around 300 seats, while the INDIA bloc is at 230 seats.
Most exit polls predicted a straight term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with quite a few of them projecting a two-thirds majority for the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
